Wilco - a roadtrip CD

I'm driving to Wagga Wagga, in regional NSW, on Friday with the wife and my parents. Well, my dad will drive and we'll enjoy the ride. It takes six hours. It's not the most enjoyable journey. You need distractions, and good driving tunes. Which is usually what I take care of. So tonight I'm pulling together some CDs for the trip.

It's hard to pick stuff that isn't obvious, already overplayed or polarizing. The Beatles, Traveling Wilburys, Neil Young and Crowded House usually get a heavy work out. But I like to sometimes slip in something the folks have never heard, something treasured by me, new to them.

If there was one band I think my parents should and could love as much as me is WILCO. So I've pulled together a playlist for an 80 minute CD we can listen to in the car, a bit of a "best of Wilco" ...but with my baby boomer parents in mind. Its an almost equal mix from all their records (with the exception of AM, which I don't own). See what you think, comments welcome...

Can't Stand it
You and I
War on War
Sky Blue Sky
Hell is Chrome
Outtaside (Outta Mind)
She's a Jar
I'll Fight
Kamera
Impossible Germany
Hummingbird
Far, Far Away
A Shot In The Arm
One Wing
Jesus, etc
Theologians
Red-Eyed and Blue
How To Fight Loneliness
On and On and On
Sunken Treasure

New music for a Sunday

I slipped into Polyester this morning with CD buying on my mind. I've been using my eMusic subscription lately to get my ears into new music, but I'm getting a hankering to return to the land of tactile purchases. So I bought three great new albums to enjoy in the warm sunshine streaming into our loungeroom on this glorious sunday in Melbourne.

First up the debut from Melbourne duo Kid Sam. Cousins Kierin and Kishore Ryan make lovely, otherworldly indie folk tunes full of looped industrial percussion and skittery guitars which are sometimes fuzzed out, and other times gentle and acoustic. The self titled album is RRR's album of the week and they're playing a free instore at Polyester's city store on April 24th. I reckon I might be there.

I also picked up the new album for NZ's Lawrence Arabia (pictured above). Its a joyful pop-soaked affair... dripping with Beatle-esque tones and a wistful boyish charm. The album - Chant Darling - is out through Mistletone.

And lastly I got the new album for Deerhunter guitarist Lockett Pundt. I'm pretty much obsessed with his band and the album he's produced - The Floodlight Collective - is a sweet, multi-layered and dreamy adventure into similar pastures to the 'hunter. Recorded under the name Lotus Plaza, the record is out through Kranky.